By Jeeves

I am always pleased to see a show that is new to me.  Having now seen it, I am surprised that this show is not tackled more often by amateur societies, being ideally suited to a small stage and ensemble cast. 

I always look forward to shows and plays performed by this group at this venue, because I am never sure how the stage and auditorium will be arranged.  In this case, unusually, we were presented with a traditional proscenium stage and partially raked seating.  The set consisted of green walls with functional white double doors on the centre of the back wall, with a single white door on either side of this.  There were curtained entrances upstage right and left, and another one downstage left.  The curtained entrances were used far more than the  doors, and I was unsure as to why this was, particularly when characters were entering or leaving rooms or houses.  Items of furniture were brought on to transform this set into other locations eg. Bertie's lounge, the road, the garden etc.  I particularly liked the ornamental pond with it's statue. 

Furniture and props looked good and were well used.  The early business of the broken chair and the music stand was very funny, and the makeshift car was delightful.  The sunflowers given to the audience were suitably ridiculous.  Even when something untoward happened (the statue fell over on the night we attended) it was very professionally dealt with.  Scene changes were performed with great efficiency by 4 ensemble members.  As well as handling the practicalities of moving the furniture and props, at times they themselves became the scenery eg. as the hedge in the maze scene.  Sometimes the scene changes were performed quietly and unobtrusively, and at other times the scene changes themselves heightened the comedy value and became a  very entertaining addition to the piece.

When actors exited the stage they travelled through the wings and then visibly came out from the backstage area before entering the dressing room.  I assume that this was a deliberate directorial decision (otherwise a screen could have been used).  Whilst this allowed actors to add extra looks or comments in order to prolong their exits, there were times when I found the movement distracted me from the onstage action.  On occasions actors made entrances from the back of the auditorium and this worked well, giving a good sense of space in the road and garden scenes.

Costumes were good, with Bertie in a tuxedo and lovely black and white shoes.  Jeeves was well turned out in a tail coat and striped trousers and bow tie.  Perhaps he should have been wearing a waistcoat which would have covered the waistband of his trousers.  I think that Stiffy would have had a more glamorous nightdress, and I was unsure why she was wearing character shoes when in her night wear.  Bingo's plus fours and pork pie hat were just right and the ladies dresses were lovely and in period.  The Wizard of Oz costumes were beautiful and a big surprise!

Musical accompaniment was provided by 2 pianos and this was more than adequate, particularly as we were supposed to be watching a Village Hall show.  Choreography of some numbers eg. By Jeeves and It's a Pig was very good, but some numbers, in particular the solos seemed to have been under-choreographed and in consequence characters were left to 'wander'.  I was disappointed that there was no real movement in the finale Banjo Boy number.  Singing was of a high standard, with particular highlights being By Jeeves, Half a Moment and Travel Hopefully.

Lighting was provided mostly by a general flood.  The house lights were very late going down (some 10 minutes or more into the show) and I was unsure whether this was deliberate, and if so, why.  There were some excellent sound effects which were well timed eg. the screech of brakes in the car scene, and the 'correction' of the sound effects at the start of act 2 when the evening birdsong became a morning cockerel.

There were some lovely directorial moments.  The business with the ladder and window was ingeniously thought out and exquisitely timed; in fact, it was performed so well, I think most of the audience didn't appreciate just how difficult a gag it was!  The tree stump being placed under Cyrus's foot was a good running gag, but perhaps could have been funnier if each time a different prop was used, so that the audience never knew what was coming on next.  The heaviness of certain objects (Honoria's bag, the statue) was very well demonstrated; I particularly liked Gussie's prolonged holding of the statue as his legs gradually gave way.  Excellent pace contributed to the comedy value and I got the impression that line delivery had really been thought about, for example in the 'I love her Bertie' line.  The maze scene with human hedges was very effective. 

Altogether, this was a very slick and well acted production.  However, considering Bertie's story was supposedly being acted by last minute amateurs who had been drafted into their parts, I felt that they were perhaps rather too accomplished, and that at times we could have seen more 'mistakes' or 'awkwardness' by some of the characters, to remind us that we were in fact watching a show-within-a-show.  Having said that, it is always a delight to see an ensemble cast working so well together to create a really high standard of amateur production.  Thank you for the invitation.

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